The present application relates to a liquid crystal device and an electronic apparatus.
Examples of liquid crystal display devices employing a lateral electric field mode include an in-plane switching (IPS) mode liquid crystal display device, a fringe field switching (FFS) mode liquid crystal display device, and the like. In the IPS mode liquid crystal display device, a pixel electrode and a common electrode which generate a lateral electric field are formed on the same layer and an electric field (that is, a lateral electric field) is generated in a liquid crystal layer in an approximately parallel direction to a substrate surface. Accordingly, visibility in the IPS mode liquid crystal display device can be advantageously improved compared to a twisted nematic (TN) mode liquid crystal display device which is one of liquid crystal display devices of a vertical electric field mode. However, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to sufficiently drive liquid crystal molecules positioned directly on the pixel electrode, causing degradation of light transmission.
On the other hand, in the FFS mode liquid crystal display device, a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed on different layers with an insulation layer interposed and thus a direction of an electric field generated in a liquid crystal layer is different from that of the IPS mode liquid crystal display device. Therefore, the electric field is applied to liquid crystal molecules positioned directly on the pixel electrode as well and thereby the liquid crystal molecules on this part can be sufficiently driven. As a result, light transmission can be advantageously improved in the FFS mode liquid crystal display device more than the IPS mode liquid crystal display device described above. Especially, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-226175 discloses a liquid crystal device in which an insulation film for planarization is formed on a lower layer side of two electrodes which generate a lateral electric field in the FFS mode. Further, an electrode provided on an upper layer side has a shape including a plurality of long and thin openings (slits) in the FFS mode liquid crystal device. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-116484 discloses a liquid crystal device in which a relationship between the width on an electrode portion positioned between openings and the width of the openings are optimized so as to improve display quality.